Huang Yaqiong, Olympic Badminton Champion, Announces Retirement from National Team
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Beijing (China), Jan 1 (NationPress) Badminton Olympic champion Huang Yaqiong announced on social media on Wednesday that she has submitted her resignation to the Chinese national team, officially bidding farewell to her national team career. "I’ve been greeted with countless encouragements from everyone, hoping that I could continue my career. But actually, since the run-up for the Paris Olympics, I’ve already regarded the Paris Olympics as my last one," Huang wrote in her post.
"Although based on my current form, I still possess the physical ability to compete, the accumulated injuries over the years combined with the increasing age have made me lack the confidence to continue shouldering the mission of winning glory for the country and maintaining the form as an elite athlete," she stated.
Following her performance where she finished as runners-up at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, Huang and her partner Zheng Siwei secured the mixed doubles gold at the Paris Olympics, finishing the tournament with a perfect 6-0 record without dropping a single set, according to reports from Xinhua.
Zheng also announced in November that he would be retiring from international competition. In their final international appearance, the duo clinched the championship for the third consecutive time at the year-end Badminton World Federation (BWF) world tour finals just last month.
Huang expressed that despite her departure from the national team, her connection with badminton remains unbroken. "Badminton is my lifelong pursuit, and I’m willing to give it my all," she affirmed.
